The present invention disclosed herein relates a substrate cleaning apparatus and method and a brush assembly used therein, and more particularly, to a substrate cleaning apparatus and method and a brush assembly used therein, which can overcome a limitation in that a portion of a substrate is not sufficiently cleaned due to sagging of cleaning brushes when the substrate is cleaned between a pair of cleaning brushes.
Generally, after substrates used for display devices or wafers (hereinafter, referred to as ‘substrate) used to manufacture semiconductor devices are treated, a cleaning process is performed to remove foreign substances from the surface of the substrate stained during the treatment process.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a typical substrate cleaning apparatus 9. In the typical substrate cleaning apparatus 9, when a substrate 66 is transferred between a pair of cleaning brushes by a substrate transfer part, any one of the pair of cleaning brushes 10 moves in a vertical direction 10d, cleaning the surface of the substrate 66 while the cleaning brushes 10 rotate in a state where the substrate 66 is jammed between the cleaning brushes 10.
In this case, the cleaning brushes 10 are rotated by a driving part 40 in different directions, and desalted water or pure water is supplied to any one of the substrate 66 and the cleaning brushes 10 to clean the substrate 66. Although not shown, cleaning liquid (cleaning chemical) and desalted water are supplied to the substrate 66 through a nozzle.
However, in the typical substrate cleaning apparatus 9 configured as above, since a support 20 for rotatably supporting the cleaning brushes 20 is disposed at only one side thereof, sagging may occur due to the self-weight of the cleaning brushes 20, causing a gap E between the cleaning brush 20 and the substrate 66. Accordingly, there is a limitation in that cleaning cannot be uniformly performed because a cleaning frictional force is not uniformly applied to the surface of the substrate 66.
Also, even though the support 20 for rotatably supporting the cleaning brushes 20 is disposed at both ends of the cleaning brushes 20, a gap E may occur when a slight error occurs in the movement distance of the cleaning brush 20 that moves up and down. Even though the surface of the cleaning brush 20 is formed of a flexible material and thus a gap E does not occur in external appearance, there occurs a difference in contact pressurizing force between the cleaning brushes 20 and the substrate 66, causing a nonuniform cleaning frictional force on the surface of the substrate 66 and nonuniform cleaning.
Accordingly, a brush type of cleaning apparatus that can cleanly remove foreign substances from the surface of the substrate 66 is needed.